DADU: Small growers and local leaders of the Sindh Abadgar Board (SAB) have appealed to the Sindh government to stop smuggling of the wheat to Afghanistan and its illegal shifting to other provinces, otherwise, it would cause a major crisis of the grain and flour in the province.

They demanded an immediate action against the food and district administration officials involved in the illegal shifting of wheat through loading trucks and tractor trollies from the agriculture land of Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas, Shahaeed Benazirabad, Sukkur and Larkana divisions to Afghanistan, and through Karachi to Balochistan areas.

They alleged that the highly influential businessmen were paying Rs75,000 to Rs100,000 per vehicle as bribe to food officials, administrations of districts and police officials to cross their wheat-loaded heavy vehicles into Afghanistan.

“On a daily basis, 200 wheat-loaded heavy vehicles have been moving to Afghanistan from Johi, Khairpur Nathan Shah, Mehar and Dadu talukas of Dadu district since March 1, 2023. Officials of the food department and district administrations and local police help them cross their areas after receiving Rs75,000 to Rs100,000 per vehicle,” Mohammad Salih Panh-war, a wheat grower of Dadu taluka, told Dawn.

Another wheat grower, Moula Bux Shaikh, said: “Local food officials and Dadu administration officers on the pretext of checking of the wheat-loaded vehicles are receiving bribe at Johi Mor, Pir Shaikh, Kakar, Khanpur, Mehar bypass on the Larkana-Karachi Indus Highway and at Syal Nako of the Dadu-Moro road near Dadu city.”

“A big stock of wheat is smuggled through political bigwigs and influential businessmen from San-ghar, Shaheed Benazir-abad and Naus-hahro Feroze districts of Shaheed Benazirabad division. On the other hand, millions of tons of wheat is still lying in fields, but the food department officials are not ready to handover gunny bags to small growers. Gunny bags are handed over only to political people and influential traders, those who are involved in the smuggling of the commodity,” said Samiullah Unar, a leader of the small grower association of Kazi Ahmed of district Shaheed Bena-zirabad.

Likewise, the shifting of wheat continues from Ghotki, Mirpur Mathelo, Pano Aqil, Sukkur, Khairpur Mirs, Jaccoba-bad, Shikarpur, Larkana and Kashmore-Kandhkot areas of Sukkur and Larkana divisions in Sindh towards Afghanistan.

However, on the issue of shifting and smuggling of wheat from Sindh to Balochistan and Afghanistan, Sindh food department Director Syed Imdad Shah said the licences of the wheat traders involved in the violation would be suspended for 90 days during the wheat procurement season 2023 and Section 144 was imposed by the concerned DCs in their respective district to shift the commodity.

Regarding a check on the smuggling of wheat, he said checkpoints were established at Ghotki, Jaccobabad, Qambar-Shahdadkot and Larkana, and the illegal transportation of wheat through the Sindh-Balochistan and Sindh-Punjab borders had been stopped.

Published in Dawn, April 6th, 2023